Who Does What Well

Since I arrived in America, I have been compiling a bit of a list of what the British could learn from the Americans, and vice versa.

What America does better:

• Buses - run on time, and you can put your bike on a simple rack on the front, brilliant.  Drivers are polite and chatty too.
• Fast food - really tasty, really fast and most of it good for you
• Slow food - everything tastes nicer
• Ice cream - a nation that doesn't stop at strawberry, chocolate and the pale yellow one
• Sunshine - feels so wholesome
• Scenery - beautiful (round here anyway)
• Roads - not much traffic and no roundabouts - great!
• Cities - sensibly built in easy to navigate blocks
• Speaking - say what they mean and mean what they say - very straightforward
• Fire hydrants - look so complicated and impressive, bound to stop any fire
• Fire engines - really shiny and impressive bits of equipment - proper bells too.
• Letter boxes - I didn't believe you could have a drive by letter box until I saw one
• Being able to turn the easy way (ie left in GB, right in USA) at traffic lights if the coast is clear, even if the light is red - so sensible
• Parking - no nasty meters, just drive to where you want to go, and stop.  So easy.  Why didn't we think of that?
• Sand - it's warm
• Camping - the love of which seems to be in the bloodstream, but maybe it has more to do with the weather
• double decker trains - brilliant
• Being polite - reassuring, bearing in mind the gun situation
• Washing machines - REALLY impressive bits of kit
• Sending people to the moon - so jealous
• Surfing - but then you have the waves so it's sort of cheating
• Wildlife - lots and lots of it

What Britain does better:

• Free health service - stop complaining Brits and start being really, really grateful
• Better justice system - the death penalty is just so yesterday
• Post - we get it through the front door (but the letter boxes all point to the pavement so you have to get out of the car)
• Pavements - you can tell where the road stops and the walkway starts
• Gun laws - nice knowing that if you were to have an argument, the other person isn't wearing a revolver
• Zebra crossings - took me a while to spot where I could cross the road, a pair white lines just isn't enough of a clue
• Carrier bags - the handles stay on until you get home
• Coping with cooler or cold weather.  We don't need the heating on in June.
• Newspapers - you can buy them without having the right change
• Royalty - I feel bereft!  How is the royal pregnancy progressing?
• Annual leave - no way could any of us survive on 2 or 3 weeks leave a year
• Working hours - no way could most of us survive on a routine 40 hour week
• Trade unions - (I worked that out from the lines above)
• Trains - come on America - where are they all (apart from the double decker ones I found 40 miles away)?
• Cornish pasties (according to the bus driver yesterday)
• Scottish stuff like tartan and tossing the caber (according to someone who works here)
• Bus stops - at least you can tell where they are.  Even if the bus doesn't arrive, you have the smug pleasure of knowing you were standing in the right place
• History - more of it, but we mustn't gloat
• Credit cards - when did you last sign a chit - I mean, really?
• Steering wheels - we know which side to wear them
• Lorries - don't have them here apparently 
• Ground - doesn't usually shake

Aha!  22 all.  Better stop there!